Train of the Clouds

January 12, Salta

Once a week the Tren de las Nubes called "the Train of the Clouds" departs from Salta and stops only at San Antonio de los Cobres station for tourists. Currently, the train leaves Salta station for the 15-hour, 434-kilometre round trip to the viaduct La Polvorilla, located 4,220 m above sea level. After the rest day the rally competitors became like passengers of Tren de las Nubes, on the 12^th of January on the stage Salta-Salta they had to climb high into the mountains. Multicolored trucks trail sailed up into the clouds. The route included long stretches of high-altitude racing (3,400 meters above see level), and it means that Salta, located at an altitude of 1152 meters, was somewhere at the bottom. And this means that the rain which turned the bivouac in Salta into the tremendous mud bath is also far below. It was sunny in the mountains. The information about the change of the special stage due to weather conditions wasn’t confirmed: trucks had to overcome initially planned fast special of 533 km. Start of the 7th stage of the race wasn’t mixed for the participants in the category of cars and trucks. The motorcycles and quads didn’t race on the same course as the cars and trucks. The riders tackled another marathon stage which took them to the Salar de Uyuni as the Dakar sets foot in Bolivia for the first time.

While organizers, journalists and assistance groups had some border formalities related to the forthcoming crossing of the Argentine-Chilean border, we managed to get some messages from the stage.

This stage was a logical continuation of the Argentine part of the Dakar. It was very fast special as all stages on the first week of the Dakar. Finally, the tracking system of crews in real time works well now. Eduard Nikolaev was first on all the checkpoints and eventually won his first Dakar stage in life. After the finish, the pilot said that the rivals were faster on the straight sections of the track and passed his KAMAZ, but then he overtook them, and used Sentinel (device sends a signal to the crew going ahead with the requirement to give way. According to the regulations of the race, the pilot who has received such a signal shall let overtaking). The advantage of rivals on straight sections is not associated with motor power; it is related with an electronic speed control system. It is a pilot (and a mechanic) who controls the speed limit on our trucks, but there is an electronic system, a sort of cruise control on our rivals vehicles for the control of the speed limit.  Naturally, our pilot goes135-138 km/h when the speed limit is 140 km/h, he has only an accelerator pedal and must be more careful not to exceed the speed. The electronic system is more precise and allows you to set the speed of 139 km/h. As a result, an insignificant difference of 1-3 km/h, gives a significant advantage at distances of 500 km (as for example today’s stage).

It is clear that the battle of De Rooy and Karginov interests all Russian fans. Dutchman set a high pace, he goes carefully and confidently. Andrey is still fast, but less fortunate. Almost immediately after a few kilometers after the start, he cut the cock of air inflating on the stone wall. He lost precious minutes to change the cock. De Rooy was faster him for about 8 minutes 45 seconds.

Dmitry Sotnikov had a god result today. The fastest driver in today's special was followed by Dmitri Sotnikov (+3'45"). My colleagues from ASO-TV asked me in press-center: "He is very fast, where it came from?". The answer is: "He arrived from Africa! Here's a booklet about the team, study it." And another young pilot of the KAMAZ-master Team Anton Shibalov is also very fast. Anton and Dmitry won the rally Africa Race last year. If we add stability and the ability to solve navigation tasks quickly to the speed of Anton Shibalov, then this crew will be a good rival for the next Dakar. After seven stages of the Dakar four KAMAZ crews are on 2, 3, 4 and 6 positions on the standings. On the 13rd of January the rally caravan will leave Argentina, then cross the border with Chile to get the Chilean Atacama.

7^th Stage of the rally Dakar. Truck standings.

Overall after the 7th Stage